Monthly Archives: April 2011

April 29, 2011 · 9:21 AM

Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for French Fridays with Dorie!  I decided this week’s recipe, Bistrot Paul Bert Pepper Steak, was special-occasion worthy, so we had it for Easter Dinner.  I served it with mashed potatoes (or purée as they would say in France) and roasted asparagus.

This dish was inspired by one of Dorie’s favorite neighborhood restaurants, Bistrot Paul Bert.  Start with a steak, filet mignon is recommended, and press crushed peppercorns into both sides.  The steak is quickly seared on both sides over high heat.

After the steak is seared and the pan cooled slightly Cognac is added to the pan.  Dorie gives the cook two choices:  flame the Cognac or let it boil down.  I intended to flame the Cognac, but my pan was so hot it reduced almost instantly after I poured it into the pan.  So I moved on to the next step, adding cream to the pan and letting it simmer for a couple of minutes.  Salt to taste and serve over the steaks.

This method of cooking produces a rare steak.  My husband prefers his steaks more well done, so I did his an extra minute per side.  It still ended up too pink for his liking.  I like my steaks more rare, so didn’t mind how pink it was, but next time I would cook it slightly longer even for my steak.

My steak was pretty rare

There are a couple of ways to get less-rare steaks.  One is to cook the steaks at a lower temperature.  On high they seared really quickly, and keeping them on the stove longer would have burned the outside.  A lower temperature would allow them to cook longer.  Another option is to sear the steaks quickly on the stove, then place them in the oven while you make the sauce.  I think this is the method I will try next time.

We loved this steak!  Even though it was a little more rare than he likes, my husband ate every bite of his and I thoroughly enjoyed mine.

10 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , ,

April 28, 2011 · 8:24 AM

Profiteroles

This is the final installment of French Pastry Week, and I’m going to keep it short and sweet!

As I mentioned when I made Eclairs last week, I froze some of the pâte â choux to make profiteroles.

First, I removed the frozen, unbaked puffs of dough and baked them:

Puff!

Next I filled them with ice cream.  I chose to use strawberry ice cream because it seemed Spring-y.  Use your favorite!

Filled with ice cream

The beauty of these is you can stick the filled profiteroles into the freezer until ready to serve!

Place the profiteroles on a plate (if they’ve been in the freezer it’s a good idea to let them sit out for a few minutes to warm up slightly) and cover generously with chocolate sauce.  I made the Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce in Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, but you can use your own favorite recipe or even store bought.

Ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Yum!

3 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , , , ,

April 27, 2011 · 2:38 PM

Garden Journal: Potatoes and Other Progress

I got my potatoes planted today!  These are the varieties I planted:

  • Yukon Gold – 4 plants
  • Red Pontiac – 4 plants
  • All Blue – 2 plants
  • Russet – 2 plants

Cut and ready for "curing"

Last year I grew Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold and had great success.  I added in All Blue and Russet this year just for fun!

One problem I ran into last year is that I planted my potatoes way too deep and they took forever to appear at the surface.  Hopefully this year I planted them the right depth!

Ready to Plant

My husband has done some work on his section of the garden too:

Newly built beds

Yes, we have separate sections in our garden.  We are both into growing vegetables but have different ideas of what we’d like to grow and what techniques to use.  This way we each get to plant what we want, how we want!  We do share some of the work:  I will lay out the drip lines for both of us, and he will build me some structures for my beans and cucumbers.

The tulips under our tree are blooming!  This is the prettiest part of our yard and it only lasts for a week or so.  I love how the sunlight “lights” them up.

Tulips

On a final note, I have only had a few sprouts come up from all those seeds I planted a few weeks ago.  It is very difficult for me to keep the top few inches of soil moist enough for the seeds to germinate, even though I try to water every day.  I really need to get the drip lines set up and running – that would probably help.

Anyone have any advice on keeping the soil moist in a dry climate?

1 Comment

Filed under Gardening

Tagged as ,

April 23, 2011 · 10:16 PM

Mustard Batons

Ready To Eat

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is a quick and easy appetizer called Mustard Bâtons. I made the tapenade variation a few months ago when I made my French Table Feast.  I loved the Tapenade Bâtons, but this time I decided to stick with the original recipe.

You hardly need a recipe for this one, it’s so easy.  Take some puff pastry dough and roll it out.  Spread some mustard on half the rolled out dough.  Fold the other half of the dough over the mustard.  Cut the dough into strips and place on a baking sheet.  Brush the tops of  the strips with some lightly beaten egg, then optionally sprinkle with some poppy seeds.  Pop them in the oven and you’re done!  You can even freeze the unbaked bâtons and pull them out for a last-minute appetizer.

Fresh From the Oven

Of course I made this task a little more difficult by making my own whole wheat puff pastry.  The whole wheat adds an extra dimension of flavor to the bâtons.  I was afraid of having too strong a mustard flavor so I used less than the recipe called for.  It turns out the whole wheat flavor overpowered the mustard, so I should have used more.  My husband didn’t even know there was mustard until I mentioned it to him.  Even with mustard flavor not coming through enough I really like these!  They reheated nicely the next morning for breakfast.

With Herbed Cheese Scrambled Eggs on Asparagus

I served these along side Herbed Cheese Scrambled Eggs on Asparagus.

There’s not much else to say about this easy recipe.  If you are looking for something quick and easy to serve guests, I highly recommend this one.

7 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , , ,

April 21, 2011 · 12:16 PM

Adventures in Puff Pastry

Welcome to the second installment of French Pastry Week! Today we’re talking about puff pastry. I decided it would be a fun adventure to try making it from scratch.

Why did I make puff pastry when prepared puff pastry is so readily available and easy to work with? Well, the last time I purchased the leading brand of frozen puff pastry I was dismayed to discover that it contained partially hydrogenated oils, something I try to avoid. I had heard good things about an all-butter brand of frozen puff pastry available at Whole Foods. When I checked it out, I was shocked to see how expensive it was! I could not bring myself to pay that much for what was going to be part of an ordinary week-night meal.

To make this challenge even more interesting, I chose a recipe for whole wheat puff pastry.  The main reason for this is I found a great recipe in my favorite whole grain baking book (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking – highly recommended!) that included fantastic instructions and even pictures!  Besides, I’m always trying to find ways to fit more whole grains into our diet.

Making Puff Pastry

Making whole wheat puff pastry is an all-day process, but there are large breaks while the dough rests.  It involves wrapping the dough around a prepared block of butter, then repeatedly rolling and folding the dough to create many layers of butter and dough.  The puff happens while baking: the melting butter layers create steam, which separates the layers of dough.

Let’s get started!

The dough and butter are prepared and chilled.  Before chilling, the butter is patted into an 8-inch square.  After chilling, roll the dough into a rough 12-inch square and place the butter on top at a 45-degree angle.

The butter is placed on the rolled-out dough

Fold the corners of the dough over the block of butter until they meet in the middle.  Pinch and seal the edges together, making a packet.  You may need to lightly wet the edges of the dough to make sure you get a tight seal.

The “Packet”

Roll the dough from the center out to a large 20 x 10 inch rectangle.

The rolled out dough

After brushing off any excess flour, fold the dough into thirds, first by folding up the bottom third, then by folding down the top third.  Next turn the dough 90 degrees to the right.  It should look like the picture below.

The dough is folded into thirds and turned

Repeat this process a total of six times.  After every two folds, rest the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour (puff pastry made with non-whole wheat flour does not need to rest as long).

Finishing

This recipe makes a lot of dough, so after my final roll I cut it into fourths.  Each quarter ended up weighing roughly 14 ounces.

Cut into fourths

I prepared three of the pieces of dough to freeze for future use (yay!).  After all that work, it is nice to have enough left over to use next time I want puff pastry.

Wrapped and ready to freeze

The Verdict

I couldn’t spend all that time making puff pastry and not bake any of it to see if it would “puff” or not.  So, I cut off a slice, rolled it out, and prepared it for baking.

Rolled out and ready to go in the oven

It puffed!  You can see the layers along the edge.  The inside had nice buttery layers, just like you’d expect.

The pastry puffed up nicely

In Conclusion

If you are interested in trying puff pastry, here are a couple of sites that might help you:

King Arthur Flour Classic Puff Pastry Recipe – this is not a whole wheat recipe

Preparing Puff Pastry – this page  has lots of photos of the process and good instructions

For those feeling wild and crazy enough to try whole wheat puff pastry, here are the ingredients you should use:

Dough:

  • 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 3 cups unbleached bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
  • 4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons water

Butter:

  • 4 sticks (1 pound total) unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour

I wonder what I am going to make with this puff pastry?

5 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as ,

April 19, 2011 · 5:28 PM

Eclairs

It’s French Pastry Week here at From Scratch!  We’re kicking things off today with eclairs.  These eclairs are actually last week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe, but I was out of town for Spring Break and didn’t get a chance to make them.  I had hoped to make them a week early, but had to concede that getting the taxes done was more important than making eclairs (although a lot less fun!).

Dorie gives several options for filling and glazing the eclairs, suggesting vanilla, chocolate, and coffee in any combination.  She really gives you permission to be creative!  I chose to do the vanilla pastry cream filling and chocolate ganache glaze, because to me that is the “traditional” combination for eclairs.  I am intrigued by the vanilla glaze and may give it a try some day.

Pâte â choux, or cream puff dough, is very versatile.  It can be used to make sweet treats like eclairs and cream puffs, or savory dishes like gougères and Gnocchi à la Parisienne.  I made half my dough into puffs and froze them to make profiteroles for Easter.

Unbaked Puffs

Eclairs are very fun to make, though a little time consuming.  But, there are several distinct steps so you can break it up throughout the day.  First I made the Vanilla Pastry Cream and put it in the fridge to cool.  It tastes heavenly!  Next I made the pâte â choux.  It must be used while it is still warm.  I do not have the required pastry bag or large tip, so I improvised with a plastic zip-lock bag (as recommended by Dorie herself on the Eclairs P&Q).  I haven’t done much piping, so I was a little nervous, but it worked great!

The piped eclairs are baked and cooled.

Fresh Out of the Oven

Several Doristas had trouble with their baked eclairs sinking in after removing them from the oven.  Mine did deflate a little bit, but not enough for me to bother with re-making them.  I read some recommendations to cook them a little longer and I will try that next time.

Slightly Deflated

Finally, I made the chocolate ganache.  Assembly went more quickly than I expected.  The eclairs are sliced in half.  The vanilla pastry cream is piped onto the bottom halves.  The ganache is spread on the top halves, which are then placed on top of the eclairs.

Finished Eclairs

Oh. My. Goodness.  These are delicious!  There is nothing like a freshly made pastry.

You can check out all the other eclairs here.  So many different combinations of flavors!

——————-

Before I close, I want to give a shout-out to Rachel at Eaternal Bliss.  She hosted a giveaway for two copies of the cookbook Hello, Cupcake! and I was randomly selected as one of the winners!  I have only recently discovered Rachel’s blog and it is lovely.  Her photos are beautiful and her recipes very tempting!  Check out the beautiful butterfly cupcakes she made using Hello, Cupcake! as her inspiration.

7 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , , , ,

April 12, 2011 · 10:03 PM

Asparagus Giovanni

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the asparagus!  I love it when asparagus is in season.  We eat it often while we can!  One of my favorite ways of preparing asparagus is this quick and easy pasta dish.

“Asparagus Giovanni” can be found in The Northwest Best Places Cookbook.  The cookbook contains recipes from some of the best restaurants in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, Canada.  “Asparagus Giovanni” apparently comes from a restaurant called Giovanni’s on Pearl, located in Ellensburg, WA.  A quick Google search on the restaurant brought up no results (other than a reference to the cookbook), so I’m not sure the restaurant exists any more.

Everything in the Pan

One thing I love about this recipe is that everything (except the pasta) is thrown into the frying pan and then cooked all at once.  This makes preparation super easy!  You can really make this whole recipe in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

The end result is a delicious, satisfying vegetarian meal.

Asparagus Giovanni

Asparagus Giovanni

(click here to print)

  • 1 pound dried fettuccine or other pasta
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1¼ pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut in to 1-inch lengths
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms (about 2 ounces)
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 4 cloves chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
  • Pinch dried red pepper flakes
  • 6 basil leaves, finely chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, or more to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook until al dente, according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, combine the asparagus, mushrooms, wine, olive oil, garlic, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes in a skillet and bring just to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, partly covered, until the asparagus is just tender but still crisp, about 10 minutes.  Most of the liquid should have evaporated.  If the liquid evaporates before the asparagus is cooked, add a little water.  When the asparagus is cooked, stir in the basil and add salt and pepper to taste.

When the pasta is cooked, drain well and return it to the pot.  Add the butter to the hot pasta and coat well.  Arrange the pasta on warmed serving plates and top with the asparagus mixture.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Serves 4

5 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , , ,

April 8, 2011 · 8:36 AM

Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli & Chicken Piccata

Broccoli is a family favorite vegetable in my household, so this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was definitely not “experimental“.  It’s called “Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli” and it was fabulous!

Dried bread crumbs are toasted in melted butter sauteed with garlic, then tossed with lemon zest and fresh mint or parsley (I used parsley).  Just tender steamed broccoli spears are rolled in the crumbs, making the broccoli dressed-up and ready for company.

The garlicky bread crumbs are to-die-for delicious.  I caught myself eating little spoonfuls of just the bread crumbs on several occasions.  The flavor of the lemon zest adds a bit of spark, and of course you can’t go wrong with bread crumbs sauteed in butter.  You could use the bread crumbs in other recipes too; I think they would be wonderful on baked fish.  Maybe even tossed with pasta!

I served the broccoli with Chicken Piccata, one of my favorite quick-and-easy chicken recipes.  It was perfect with the broccoli: not only did the flavors go well together, but the chicken used the juice from the lemon that I zested for the broccoli.

The recipe for “Garlicky Crumb-Coated Broccoli” can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Around My French Table.  The Chicken Piccata is from San Juan Classics Cookbook (one of my all-time favorite cookbooks) and is a bonus recipe this week.  For some reason my chicken doesn’t look as attractive as usual, but trust me – it tastes good!

Chicken Piccata

(click here to print)

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup dry white wine (I usually use Sherry)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • ½ lemon, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons capers, or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet to a thickness of ¼ inch.

On a plate or shallow dish, mix flour and salt.  Coat the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off excess.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and cook until brown.  The garlic can be discarded, but I like to leave it in.  Add the chicken breasts to the pan and quickly saute until browned on both sides and cooked through.  Remove to a platter and cover to keep warm.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine and lemon juice.  Return the chicken to the pan and heat through.  Top with the lemon slices.

Transfer the chicken to serving plates and top with the sauce.  Garnish with the capers and parsley.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4

9 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as , , ,

April 5, 2011 · 1:42 PM

Garden Journal: First Planting

“I might plant some seeds today.”  My husband looks confused.  “In the literal sense.” “Oh…”

With the hot, dry summers we have here in Reno, growing cooler-weather vegetables like spinach or lettuce must be done in early Spring or Fall.  I have always wanted to try growing some of these cooler-weather veggies, but have not been on the ball early enough to get it done.  This year I finally managed to get some planted!

Here is what I did today:

I prepared the garden beds by amending them with:

Dr. Earth Organic 5™ Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer 5-7-3
Master Nursery Bumper Crop (organic compost)
E.B. Stone Organics Soil Sulfur (to make the soil more acidic – we have very alkaline soil)

I planted quite a few seeds!

Arugula
Lettuce
Spinach
Beets
Parsnips
Swiss Chard

I will probably plant more arugula, spinach and lettuce in a few weeks to extend the crop.

The Freshly Planted Beds

I have purchased seed potatoes, but will wait to plant them in a few weeks.

I can’t wait to see some sprouts come up!  Anyone else getting some planting done?

5 Comments

Filed under Gardening

Tagged as ,

April 2, 2011 · 8:52 PM

Pizza Disaster!

So, tonight I made pizza for dinner.  I was using my new favorite pizza crust recipe and a jar of pizza sauce I picked up in St. Helena, CA a couple of weeks ago.  I topped it with chicken and grape tomatoes, and it was looking good!

The cookbook I use has you start the pizza at the top of the oven in a pizza pan.  Then when it is almost done, you move it off the pan with a pizza peel to the bottom half of the oven (onto a pizza stone if you have one) to brown the bottom of the crust.  This is where I ran into trouble…

As I attempted to get the pizza peel underneath the pizza, it somehow began to slide down the back of the oven rack onto the rack below.  It landed folded in half, inside-out, with toppings and cheese dripping down to the oven floor.  It’s a good thing my daughter was in another room because I was not saying nice things!

I let the pizza cook for a few more minutes then surveyed the damage.  I removed the mangled pizza from the oven.  I gently unfolded it.  The half that remained on top looked fine.  The other half was void of toppings.  There was a large pile of melted cheese on the bottom of the oven.  I decided I’d better scrape it out while it was still melted.  I got most of it out and piled it back onto the mangled half of the pizza (although we didn’t end up eating that half – I just couldn’t eat toppings that came off the bottom of the oven).

I was able to salvage enough of the pizza for tonight’s dinner, but the leftovers had to be discarded.  It’s too bad, because it tasted wonderful, even if the crust in the middle of the pizza wasn’t quite browned enough.

Here are a few pictures.  These pictures don’t do the situation justice because I didn’t think to take them until after the worst of it was cleaned up.  I still have some work to do tomorrow to finish cleaning the oven.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the left half looks great, but the right half is pretty mangled.

The Oven Rack

The Bottom of the Oven

2 Comments

Filed under Cooking

Tagged as ,